Comparing Objective And Subjective Measures Of Exercise Stress In Female Collegiate Ice Hockey Players

Quantifying exercise stress experienced by ice hockey players during training and competition is essential for practitioners in supporting coaches. Exercise stress can be quantified using both subjective and objective methods to derive a training load. However, there remains a paucity of inquiry into the association between indices of subjective and objective training loads in collegiate hockey players. PURPOSE: To examine the association between a subjective and objective measure of exercise stress in female collegiate ice hockey players. METHODS: A total of 21 healthy university female ice hockey players with an age (mean ± SD) of 20.4 ± 1.7 y, a height of 166.3 ± 4.7 cm, and a body weight of 66.4 ± 7.3 kg, volunteered to be participants over a two-week period. Each participant wore a chest-strap heart rate monitor during on-ice training and competition. An objective measure of exercise stress was quantified using heart rate dynamics and was calculated using Edwards training load. A subjective measure of exercise stress was quantified using a sessional rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) and was multiplied by time (min) to derive a training load. Indices of exercise stress were recorded from the beginning of the dry-land warm-up and finished upon completion of the off-ice cool-down. The association between sRPE and HR derived training loads were examined using Linear Regression. Significance was declared as a probability of p < 0.05. The study was approved by the research ethics review board of the University of Windsor. RESULTS: Weekly HR-derived training load was (mean ± SD) 300.3 ± 141.5 (AU). Weekly sRPE training load was (mean ± SD) 830.9 ± 466.4 (AU). A significant association between sRPE and HR-derived training loads were observed as displayed though a coefficient of determination of (R2 = 0.70, p < 0.0001) and a Pearson correlation coefficient of (r 95% CI = 0.84, 0.80: 0.87). CONCLUSION: The results from study demonstrate sRPE and HR derived training loads, from on-ice training and competition, are significantly associated during regular season play. Practitioners may wish to choose a singular method that is both feasible and time sensitive to better support coaches and the integrated support staff.